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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-41871

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason no reconviction statistics have been published since the 2020-21 cohort, and what impact this delay has had on (a) the transparency of its approach to and (b) its monitoring of repeat offending.

The most recent reconviction statistics were published on 27 August 2025 and are for the 2021-22 cohort

Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2021-22 Offender Cohort - gov.scot

A reconviction is defined in our statistics as someone who is reconvicted within 12 months of release from custody, or 12 months of being given a non-custodial sentence. Therefore, statistics on the 2021-22 cohort are people released from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 2021-22 who went on to be reconvicted in 2022-23. The most recent criminal proceedings data published is for 2022-23 so the 2021-22 cohort for reconvictions is the most up to date it can be.

Criminal proceedings data for 2023-24 will be published next month and after that, we can begin work on producing reconvictions statistics for the 2022-23 cohort.

Question reference: S6W-41648

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent direct engagement it has had with Retailers Against Crime regarding measures to reduce shoplifting and improve safety for retail staff.

The Scottish Government sits alongside Retailers Against Crime (RAC) in the Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) and are working collectively with other agencies to deliver upon the SPAACE Strategy 2023-2028. To date there have been three meetings of the SPAACE steering group, chaired by Police Scotland, where retail crime has consistently been top of the agenda.

Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Task Force (RCTF) have been working closely with RAC as they jointly aim to reduce the impact of retail crime across Scotland. Part of the Scottish Government’s additional £3 million funding to tackle retail crime has been used to support local policing divisions to work closely with RAC, with numerous joint days of action taking place in locations across Scotland including Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Furthermore, some of the funding has been granted to RAC to allow them to increase their operational capacity which will support retailers and police to prevent and detect crimes, thus reducing the financial impact of retail crime while protecting workers from crimes of violence and abuse.

While RAC are not members of the Retail Industry Leadership Group (RILG), representatives of key industry groups such as the Scottish Grocer’s Federation (SGF) and Scottish Retail Consortium are members of both SPAACE and the RILG. Police Scotland has also given regular updates on its work to tackle retail crime, ensuring joined up working across a number of sectors.

The Scottish Government is grateful to its partners for the continued efforts to tackle retail crime across the country.

Question reference: S6W-41649

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement the Retail Industry Leadership Group has had with Retailers Against Crime regarding shoplifting and violence towards shopworkers.

Question reference: S6O-05176

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of repeat shoplifting offenders, in light of reports that 10 individuals have accumulated over 1,500 charges in the last four years.

Question reference: S6W-41103

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Prison Service paying an annual membership fee of £3,090 to the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme represents value for money for the taxpayer.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service has a diverse workforce and is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme provides a range of support for individuals and employers in respect of the entire LGBTQI+ community.

SPS continues to champion the diverse nature of its workforce by recognising and celebrating their diversity and achievements through wider initiatives such as the Butler Trust and PRIDE.

For 2025, SPS held the view that continued membership of the Scheme represented value for money. As normal, this will be kept under annual review.

Question reference: S6W-41102

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Prison Service continuing its membership of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme, in light of the decision by organisations such as Police Scotland and the Scottish Parliament to withdraw from the scheme.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service has a diverse workforce and is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme provides a range of support for individuals and employers in respect of the entire LGBTQI+ community.

SPS continues to champion the diverse nature of its workforce by recognising and celebrating their diversity and achievements through wider initiatives such as the Butler Trust and PRIDE.

Question reference: S6W-41101

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 24 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its membership of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme represents value for money for the taxpayer.

Question reference: S6W-41104

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Police Scotland’s decision to withdraw from the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme.

Question reference: S6W-40520

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act 2023.

The Scottish Government (SG) is committed to implementing all elements of the Bail and Release (Scotland) Act 2023 (“the 2023 Act”).

The SG has already commenced various sections of the 2023 Act. This includes all of Part 1 which relates to bail and bail decision making, which came into effect on 14 May 2025.

Part 2 Section 11 (Emergency Early Release) and Section 14 (Prescribed Victim Support Organisations were brought into force on 26 May 2024, and Section 15 (Reporting on the operation of Part 2: Release) has also all been commenced.

The implementation of Part 2 of the Act is progressing, with commencement of further elements planned in the coming year. The remaining sections of the 2023 Act are being commenced at different times, with the timeline being influenced by multiple factors, and notably the required resource and readiness across our delivery partners in the justice sector. Work is already underway on work to develop throughcare standards (section 13), with stakeholder engagement planned from November 2025 and public consultation in summer 2026.

Development of measures to implement s8 (release on specific days) and s9 (release on licence) have been delayed due to other priority developments in prisons legislation, but will be implemented as soon as is practicable. Implementation of s10 (Review of Parole Board directions and recommendations) will be incorporated into wider work on parole that is currently underway .

Question reference: S6W-40451

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what factors are considered when allocating investment for research on what are considered less survivable cancers, and whether any measures are in place to respond to any reported underfunding for such conditions.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO funds research projects via its Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee CSO also funds capacity building research via its Fellowship Funding programmes.

Research funding is not allocated to any particular condition and CSO funds research across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through a process of independent expert review to allow funding decisions to be made. Applications on all cancer types are welcomed and CSO's role is well known across the Health and Care research community in Scotland

In addition, CSO provides infrastructure funding to support the delivery of clinical studies in the NHS in Scotland. This includes funding for the NHS Research Scotland Cancer Research Network and the CSO component of funding for the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow (co-funded 50:50 with Cancer Research UK). The purpose of this funding is to support the delivery of early and later phase cancer clinical studies, including those which are less survivable cancers.

Through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office